Just the other day I was saying to myself and maybe another person on G+ "Contests are fun and I lament that I have no prizes to give away or else contests would be a thing I do."  I mean, I do have assets to give to prize-winners but I am smeagolish on hard copies of Old Skool things since these are the second times I've acquired most of it and such.  There was a snag on my own digital product that I am too lazy to rectify that hangs up the bestowal of that thing on Champions and Victors as freebies - when my act is together I may rectify this but I have little patience for customer service email or queues, these days.

There you go, that's it.  Pretty self explanatory for my main man +Alex Chalk

"Dungeon. 5 rooms minimum, 10 maximum. Max 3 pages, map included. Theme: birds. Everything should be pretty. Nothing can be ugly. Nothing can be gross. Everything's outward appearance should be pleasant and delicate. The place should nonetheless leave you feeling creeped out and uncomfortable. Include an Arcana that's a frescoe."

I received A1 - Slave Pits of the Undercity last week as a prize in a G+ PbP campaign(Mike Davison's Jousting Faire at Normandie).  Also B2 - The Keep on the Borderlands - another whole post on that thing, let me tell you what, Master Baggins.

I love the A1 thing; If I recall correctly it was the very first module I ever owned.  Obviously, I was lost like a babe in the woods at the age of 8 and I only tried to push it past my gaming group a handful of times and never ran it, even in my early 20's.  But It marks my conception of AD&D and D&D indelibly, along with a bunch of other Basic D&D stuff, and the G and D series, and The Dwellers of the Forbidden City.  I never had the rest of the A series until much, much later - not even the compendium they put out.

So, a burned out wreck of a temple, rife with humanoid and human slavers, a couple of wild monsters, and enough undead and monstrous creatures to put you through your paces.  Also! the traps!  Only a slaver would put so many traps in... but anyways, since you guys dig the bulleted format with pseudo random tables etc.

roll d12 for your SPOILER OF CHOICE:

1) Man, this thing is tough! You need 6-8 level 4 and up characters, and these are hardened heroes that already cleared out an evil cult (presumably)
2) Part of the tournament experience is short and sweet and brutal, and starts at a boulder that covers the trapdoor in a blasted ruin.  In the non-tournament experience, that trapdoor has a whole actual temple above it, with a feisty platemail cleric and her three orcish warriors who are ready to whip your ass before you even get into THE DUNGEON part
3) There's maybe a boobie being touched by a semi-sentient carnivorous plant, if you're into boobies.
4) SO many traps.  And lots of drowning!  This is 1ed, so there's no burning any fru fru Luck points, and the Hobit don't share 'em out.  Your 2ed rope-work is very likely to come in handy, but not if you came from Kara-Tur, since we don't care about Honor or Calligraphy, here, if you please (unless you're buying forgery slaves).  HAve some Nekode handy, gozaimas
5) Relatively low treasure density - this is not a solely XP for gold game.  Those orcs are going to go down in 1 hit and just to piss a guy off I might change the silver holy symbols down to SP instead of GP since, Jesus, there's like a whole wall full of 'em
6) Pretty deadly random encounters (notably, there is an admonition to keep track of certain available levels of e.g. ghouls and some of the tougher hominid-types)
7) I think maybe the best treasure is (easy to find since it's all in BOLD) - maybe Gauntlets of Dexterity?  A Stone of Diminution (got a Troll on top of it, fuck that's a spoiler, sorry).  A Ring of Shooting Stars (always wanted one of these, myself)
8) The insect men remind me of the Gamma World equivalent, and I bet when people under-estimated them back in the day they really took you to town.  I think this module probably set a good tone for BE CAREFUL and led to many TPKs (probably some friendship breaking ones)
9) None of the NPCs are identified by name.  Brilliant.  Looking back, I think that B2 does this, also
10) A giant flame-thrower on a cart, with some very clever orcs manning it.  Throw your molotov over this way.  Its use is debatable, since the Orky engineers wot thought it up have a general Orky understanding that your typical medieval peasant-turned murderhobo cannot muster
11) This is the module that A) started my close and long-standing love of Kayen Telva and B) ruined me for all other Elfs (except maybe Melf)
12)  Fuck I think my heater is about to explode.  ROLL AGAIN

This kind of perversion teaches kids bad values.

Anyway, it's a pretty mediocre thing, now that I read it again with growed-up eyes ...( PSEUDOFREUDIAN ASIDE:  I think it may also have been that particular booby with the sundew tentacle that prompted my sexual awakening and that's why I only think of sticky plants in the shape of piles of rags when I do it but I digress, and then I have to wash myself with vinegar or strong wine)... and the rest of the Slaver's Series is notable for stressing that THE NPCs (and even the monsters in the dungeon, especially the ogre-lead orcs in the sewers) are not to be trifled with.  The orcs are mooks for sure, but they have a strong sense of self-preservation and are prone to NOT advancing and instead hanging back and crossbowing the PCs to smithereens.  It really does go a long way to making one think about charging head-first willy-nilly into combat, and how no adventurer worth their salt would be so bold and reckless, I mean, shit you wouldn't even get through the door if the slaver orcs didn't know you were legit Bandit-Slavers and they could smell alignment like nobody's business and them's not slaves, they're half-orcs and you are SOOOO busted, MF goody goody!

I see some other objections that it was a little rail-roady; I think it kind of represents a poor design of go-for-the-throat with some on-the-rails problems, and yeah, I mean, that was maybe a way to do it back then but I don't think most of the dudes/ladies I do this with these days would bite that hook.  They dig some agency or maybe the illusion of it, to hang their dice rolls around.  I mean, Dwellers of the Forbidden City is a relative masterwork of "Go Forth and Fuck Around!"

No beer.  I been without beer for a couple of days and just dying to get my hands on some of that Shock Top Pseudo-Kentucky Bourbon barrel stuff.  O man.  I'd gank a dwarf for one of those right now.

One thing experience has taught me is that 1) if it's not documented adequately, for liability purposes, it didn't happen so CYOA and 2) you'll forget every good idea unless you act upon it or write it down and 3) strict numerical accuracy is important but not necessarily critical and 4) you can trust everybody out there not to snatch up your cool idea and roll with it when you're too slow/feeble/busy to act upon it

So:  A podcast (podcats? eh?) where yeah yeah we all heard the actual play shit, and we all heard the roundtable thing but this is both of those chocolate and peanuts butter TOGETHER man, wherein the guest is the focus of the PLAY and also the focus of the DISCUSSION, the idea being STEAL THIS DUDES/LADIES judging/dm-ing juju via playing with them under very specific and loose but interesting conditions, namely

randomness, player-driven narrative style, and known rules-sets

So like a lot of folks go on and on about what is the OSR? why does the OSR? who can be is the what howcome the OSR? which, to my mind, is not as fun as LET'S PLAY THIS GAME THAT MAKES US FEEL

The idea being to see what a standard well-regarded or poorly-regarded/possibly widely despised judge will do AS A PLAYER under conditions of their choosing but the setting does not vary, namely A MF DUNGEON and it can be as gonzo or whatever as the player requires within their choice of ruleset.  The judge, in this other case (not the judge under scrutiny) being ME, and maybe I get to learn how to A) Play Better B) Judge Better 3) Edit Audio 4) shill my friends' in the community stuff and talk about the shit that interests us as DMs/players of RPGs

You stat yourself up, sir or madam as the case may be, name your rules-system, and off we go, together, one on one with your contingent of meatshields as needed, into a traditional Dungeon Setting that is stable and consistent and prompts us to MAKE A STORY TOGETHER with as much narrative leeway or flexibility or rigidity as your style and rules-set requires

I can do (adequately)

Dungeon Crawl Classics
Moldvay (also L/L, S&W, ACKS, whatevah)
ADD First Edition
Dungeon World
Star Frontiers
Gamma World
any number of fiddly little d100 based things
Call of Cthulhu 5th edition *hyphen-star WOW THIS WOULD BE SOME INTERESTING DUNGEONEERING SHIT, WOULDNT IT?
Several early Games Workshop Systems, including but not limited to Necromunda, WHFRP 1st edition, and maybe Inquisitor but WTF we'd need to work that out
Gamma World
Star Frontiers
I played a lot of Palladium stuff back in the day TMNT 4ever
I would even be willing to experiment with some FIASCO and (badly maybe but HOLY BALLS) In A Wicked Age
Your Choice of System, provided I can learn it within a compressed span

The dungeon start is stable and unchanging.  Your wing/delve/chunk is either pre-generated by other players, or else made ON THE FLY with an agreed-upon protocol, and OFF WE GO for a one-on-one session, with you AS you-in-game all Guardians of the Flame n-shit

then, we talk about the thing later, or not, as you like - and you shill a thing, review a thing, expound gaming philosophy, funny anecdote, MUST INCLUDE shill somebody else's thing in a fair and honest review and maybe I figure out how to get you a t-shirt, and the content we generate together posted to Your and My Blog, or whatever, and maybe if there's money or something we give it to charity

Fuck Yeah

I want a CoC version of my friend Paul to enter with some trepidation into the steamy under-sewers of the Hideous Deeps, with a snatch of a clue and some Grim Purpose, and we can cook up some neat stuff as we go, but this is not to exclude my other friends of course you should all enter into my horrible dungeon and then we can talk about what happened as your avatar of you died and etc

I'd even be willing to go myself a couple of times if needed...

Anybody bite that hook?

So the Space Dungeon campaign started and was well received - now languishing.  Not because I'm not into it, but partly because the spawn is doing a real interesting growth spurt, I'm dealing with some seasonal stuff that makes interpersonal interactions taxing maybe, and I dunno, maybe just I'm blocked or something. But I was thinking about how to sort out the missile weapons issue in SD - like, I was set on having it based on Rogue Trader and some Star Frontiers since those are pretty easily found and adjudicated, but since the SD game is run on a chassis of Dungeon Crawl Classics, well - there ought to be a way to do it with the existing rules and not have a clusterfluck of new stuff to cope with on the players'/DM's part.

The best thing that DCC has is (IMHO) relatively simple mechanics based on a d20 resolution in which better/worse odds are bumped-up dice chain rolls.  Easey peasey.  No problems.  Not to get into the more exotic weapons offered by Rogue Trader (for example the vortex grenade and the conversion beamer and grav guns, which HOORAY are making a comeback in 7th edition 40K) but what it comes down to is (roughly) pellet/auto guns, beam guns, and bolters/gyrojets - just like in Star Frontiers.  There's some other types, sure, but for simplicity and SAN sake, I'm going to keep it pretty simple.  It seems to me that maybe a couple of easy rules ought to suffice, and I will explain where I'm coming from to keep it realz and eazy, y'all

1) Ammo ought not to be a hassle.  You buy 3 gyro jet rounds for your pistol/rifle, well - we all know how many rounds you have, and I expect it to fall on players to keep track of that shit, 'cause I'm all concerned with the WAWAWAWAWA sound of the shoggoth-daemon engines in the hover-skiff, and maybe a little drunk by 1030PM and maybe the drama DOES rely in a sense upon how many rounds you have in your gun - let's be frank, here, shall we Frank?- but if I forget and you forget, then how important was that dramatic moment, really?
2) Misfires and jams are dramatic.  You know how I know?  Because I played Space Hulk on the table and in the guts of my 1993 shitball 450mhz/25 megs of ram PC - and let me tell you, Brother Marine, when those blips turn the corner and are revealed as 3 or 4 genestealers charging down the hallway to chew your ass up, you can bet that a misfire at the last second will make your heart beat a little bit fast and when Brother Bethor goes all AAAAAAAAUUGHHHH! even though you heard it maybe a thousand times in the past, well, MISFIRE.  FUCK.  I almost had it.  The Emperor Sayeth Bless Your Weapon and Anoint it Against Misfires and Jams, and these things are A Direct Reflection Upon Your Worth, Brother.  Now strike the rune of completion and go forth to smite the heretic... You get my drift?  Upon the razor edge of misfires doth a story hinge and these are good
3) Cost Ought Not to Be a Deterrent in The Future.  Whereas in the medieval past, cost OUGHT to be a deterrent, so as to motivate, it is my learned opinion that maybe you could (like see Gibson, W.) buy/rent a cheap plastic Thai gun at an exorbitant rate and Hope For The Best, and also a wealthy operative could go for the Newest Baddest Smartgun, etc. al.  So, you could buy some Low Quality stuff and it would be hilariously disastrous since You Are a Cheapo

What rules come from this?  I haven't sussed it all out, yet - in fact I'm going to throw caution to the wind for this one since I've 4 or 5 glasses of box wine in me:

1)  see table, below, for results.  No 0-level schlub should just wang-dangle a firearm or small arm around like it's no thing, barring, of course some strange military training (this is NOT Traveller, BTW).  Maybe a max for 0-levels on the firearm attack roll of a d16 since it's more fun this way
2)  Each 1/2 of price equals and maybe equal to and greater than a con-commitant DOUBLING of the fumble threat.  I admit I stole the critical hit/fumble thing from Zach S. or whomever since he's (I admit freely) a genius.  In this case, you purchase that CHEAP RUSTY SHITTY BROKEN PLASTIC Slug Thrower, you should expect, in no uncertain terms, that it may misfire or jam/run out of ammo about a third to a half of the time you use it.

I confess, slug that I am, that I have not perused what the CRAWL! has to say about this.  There was a whole firearms issue, and I am a bastard that I did not purchase or cannot find it.  I don't know.

Slug/Bullets/Small Arms
These are quaint, but reliable ways to deal death to others.  They rely upon an explosive charge to propel a non-motivated metal slug through the air at the enemy.  They require regular maintenance and cleaning, but tolerate some abuse.  They may fire every round, for 1d8 damage, and each subsequent round fired adds a cumulative +1 to the fumble range, so look out!  The following applies to attack rolls:

less than 1 to 0: critical fumble!  Your gun explodes, doing as much damage to you automatically as it would on a succeful hit.  Reduce the die type for each Luck point you burn
1: Fumble (or modified fumble range result)  Your gun is broken!  No more attacks with this weapon until a complete repair is accomplished, normally not possible within the span of a delve.  Spend a Luck point to disregard.
2 (else the fumble range plus 1) to 5: Your gun is jammed, out of ammo, or whatever.  No more attacks until you can sit down and clean it or service it, but this is possible within the course of a game.  Ought to be easy with a cleaning kit/repair kit/whatever
5-8: Jam!  Spend 1 round fiddling with it, back into the fray thereafter

On any subsequent misses, the gun is out of ammo entirely, and more needs to be secured (of the appropriate caliber if your campaign uses that stuff) before you may use it again.

Beam/Flame/Arc/Zapper/Laser/Sonic
These are fairly sophisticated and advanced weapons requiring highly developed batteries and energy-channeling knowledge.  Pretty expensive but few working parts, if you get my drift.  They are more expensive, and sometimes prone to failure.  They do 1d12 damage per shot (in addition to modifiers for type, if you're into that, a la Carcosa)

less than 0 to 0: Kaboom!  You're partially vaporized, chum!  A catastrophic failure of the battery or energy focuser means the weapon is destroyed, and you get 2d12 points of damage, no save!  The good news is, you could get a robot hand, now.
1 to 5:  Power down!  Your battery holds insufficient charge.  Lose the attack, and no use of this weapon until you are able to find a charger or work out some charging scheme.  In 40K, and maybe in Akira, there are all kinds of ways to recharge the battery of your Lasgun - some of them are unsavory.
6-9: Overheat - lose this attack, and the weapon is available to recharge when you can wait until the end of the combat round to recharge, or until 1d4-Luck modifier combat rounds pass if you are unwilling to forgo the round voluntarily (good luck).  Burn a point of Luck to find it mysteriously recharged again, dammit.

Gyrojet/Bolt-Thrower
These are a step up from the slug/projectile thrower, in that the propellant doesn't go all at once INSIDE the weapon.  The propellant is like a rocket, in that it stays with the projectile and may be spent directionally to aid the aim of the projectile in some cases, and also the whole thing explodes nicely when it gets there with a satisfying THWUMP or KOOM or something.  They also do 1d12 damage, modified by the firer's Agility modifier.

Less than 0 to 1:  FRAKATAKKADAKKA - the whole magazine ignites in a frenzy of combustible death.  Save at DC 17 Fort or Die, reduced to a fine red paste that covers allies and enemies alike.  1d3 of your goods survive the explosion (Judge's call). If you make the save, your body is recoverable, but you're still killed/imperiled/out of action (maybe at 0 hit points and counting down).  Suffer some 1d6 penalty (permanent) to the stat of your choice; explain it away as you please.
2-6:  Jam!  Can't fire this weapon until you make a DC 12 Luck OR Agility check, starting on the next combat round.
7-9: Misfire!  The round goes wild and still explodes.  It hits the most logical farther combatant, or nearby combatant, or a group, or whatever the DM feels may be prudent and exciting (I mean, that's the breaks, right?).  Preferable a rusty I-beam that holds up that interior bulkhead and allows escape from the REDACTED


There's almost no bad reason except prudence to NOT use a projectile weapon, but in the broken down future, maybe you can amend these results by diligent credits spent on weapon maintenance.  Every 100 credits spent aforehand allows a re-roll on the attack roll, best result standing - to represent polishing, oiling, drying, striking the runes of appeasement, etc...  Take that and go carousing, you scruffy nerf-herder.

Okay.  I'm out.  Peace, Love, and Projectiles Upon Thine Enemies

+Mike Davison is kind enough to host the FLAILSNAILS Jousting Tourneys every few months on G+  Set in his realm of Normandie, the tournament draws knights and ladies and entities-shaped-as-knights to the lists to hurtle toward each other at speed and smack each other with pointy sticks.  They come from long-standing existing campaigns, and characters that know each other and adventure together often - to some knights and ladies who exist solely for the tourney.

An interesting thing has happened with Maledoric - who was made whole cloth via Mike's character generation rules.  I found immediately that he took the rough shape of Elric with a powdered wig, and my vision of him is sort of an anti-chivalric necromancer/holy man.  I conceived of him in a DCC mode, and thought it might be cool to use a cleric for the tourney rather than a fighter.  He got a train, a squire, and decent armor, suggesting to me a knight of some station.  And he came hot on the heels of a post about Atari 2600 Adventure -  and I imagined up the kingdom of Alfgrim, based on some perverted version of Adventure if it had gone afoul and lost its way (a la some Alice re-imaginings).

Tiberthe loses his cool when a mysterious visitor arrives at Palanche's lower gate

 Maledoric is not just a philosopher/cleric of an evil and almost forgotten dark god, he's also a worldly agent of the Yellow King - in DCC I imagined that Maledoric does the dirty work of the dark side of the King of Elfland, who shows up in Alfgrim as a tattered reflection of Oberon or something, obsessed with finding and recovering the Golden Goblet, sending out dragons and kleptobats to do his dirty work.  Or maybe it's the other way around, maybe he's working against them.  I don't know.  It's not clear but in my head cannon, it's okay if its ambiguous (I think it may be better).

Anyway, Maledoric won the tourney!  I chose A1 (AD&D) and B2 (Moldvay) as my prize, and look forward to hunkering down with those again, lost to me all these long, long years.

So, you can read who was in Maledoric's current train in the arrival for the Fall Tourney post, and I got to thinking it might be fun since I am on a little bit of a blocked period to describe the entities that came up in that post, and Gurailtz, and the deep gnome cook, and the Snake Men of Golaire.  Maybe describe Palanche, Maledoric's grim and picturesque cantilevered keep-office that stands guard over a deep and foul place wherein all manner of wretched things skulk; maybe it's Maledoric's hobby to investigate the catacombs below when he's not spying in tourneys or doing missions for the Yellow King.

A fearsome non-horse heavy mount.  Gurailtz?  Close enough?

We'll see.  Powder My Wig, but maybe this is the feeling of creativity coming back to me.  The insomnia makes me want to paint little plastic warriors I can't afford but this enterprise is free and makes me sleepy (obversely).

To bed - to drive on the morrow, and visit with family.  If I am away it's for the same reason most Americans are. Also, as an aside/footnote/postscript - Gutenberg is an easy way to go down the rabbit hole on interesting images.

It's like this.  HHSOLO1 passed the officially, mathematically profitable mark already, while I wasn't even paying attention.  So, uh, WOOT, I guess.  Well, better to say that it's no longer a loss in terms of overhead, unless you factor in work time.  Note: I don't think this is a good measure of success - the way I heard these high school kids took off with my working copy, and some good reports I've gotten from FB and G+ community - that's success.  Funnily, I see now why I probably could never ever ever do publishing for a living, but it's a fun and interesting hobby and once you get some steam going, I mean, hey.  Could be worse.  My wife said something like: "I know you're not in it for the money...  But if you could be in it for the money a little, that would be great."

Where is the POD, the guys all say?  Lulu?  The way I set that thing up, it was easy to make some changes to text and content, and have the InDesign spit out a new digital thing pretty easily when changes were made.  This is in 8.5 x 11, nostalgia-nerd boner for TSR's treatment circa BSOLO (what I was aiming at/for)


It's tedious to suck all that text out and convert it to 6x9 print.  Conversely, it makes it easier to place interior art (except the Russ Nicholson piece), and it happens to break the cover into smithereens.  NOW, it feels like maybe what you get when you picked up a copy of SORCERY!, if you get my drift.

Dreary cut 'n' pasting, but the upshot is, maybe you could get an actual DCC solo gamebook in your actual hand by Christmas-time or whatever your Yule-like equivalent is, but I think it'd be white-knuckle layout for yours truly.  Gotta figure out how to work the Table of Contents, also...

Work so dreary, it could make one Irascible but OOO a tasty gemstone!

Almost done but so much professional stuff to attend to by January's end, I can't even tell you (also, probably a law suit over this borrowed dwarfsney)

I think i may have posted this a while back, with my iphone - not exactly clear.

Maybe I scanned it from work, but I found it again and it got my dungeoneering (Space Dungeoning?) thoughts going, again.

Dear Reader, if you give a shit, I been worried about many non-gaming things, and anyways, sorry if I've been away from our mutual little space fantasies.

This is from the free version of HTHAD, which you can get here but if you can generate all these thoughtbombs with a free thing, shucks, you may as well spend the coins.

It was started by Dark Elfs, obviously, and then the monsters ran amuck and the gold ran out, and the Great Cities that Groan to the Skies Below become mostly empty, with bands and gangs of Dark Elf raiders the only occupants, long lived and bored and sulky as the Great Wyrm Foronax dug his way into the Corruption Pits.  They have degenerate duergar and beastmen to dig the mines out, always searching for the blue-green crystals that pepper the Aereth, here.  They hoard them, but don't know why except greed and obstinacy.  Any adventurers they come across are obviously flayed and put to death in the Sacrifice Pits.

Maybe I can include this in the setting for Halthrag Keep's little Kingdom of Thrend

At Michael's:

 The good thing about dicking around with these models all night is that I'm almost done with the Cadian infantry and the Inquisitorial retinue

It feels like when I paint this IG army - pretty standard Tamiya German Gray base coat, plus metal helms and flak armor - it feels like it never fucking ends.  I am eager to play with the orders and Battle Brother etc. in 7th edition, but Jaysus, if I finish this army to table ready level, ever, I will be amazed (just like 6 more days til a premier of some kind, I guess).  Also, gotta get these Inquisitorial retinue cranked out (crusaders and warriors are nearly ready - the fancy ones may need to wait)

If I went bonkers on it, I could set the veterans up as these IG-kitbashed-with-Imperial-Flagellants as some Veterans, and it'd be cool as fuck, but it means the delicate swapping out of a lot of weapons.

I think at the rate I am going I will have Celestine ready by January or so.

Back to my metaphor (and I think Adam pointed this out on last weeks Beer and Bolters 40K) that like painting swarms of troops is a slog and he'd rather spend the points on models that are easy or fun to paint (I think he said something like this).  These huge squads are terrific time wasters - it's now 1:30 and I need to take the dog out.

Sisters are worse.  I've been putting them off for literally 5 years or so, and they've been primed and waiting forever.  Celestine, too.  The models are all detailed, and it's kind of like an Act of Faith just getting them ready for a game!

One problem is that I learn and forget, learn and forget, learn and forget.  I don't stick with the hobby long enough to get good or learn to paint well.  I mean, I enjoy it, and I'm nuts at the idea of fun conversions (and making terrain out of junk, for some reason perks up my ears)

Anyway, more tomorrow.  Maybe some picture

For my Sisters, here's what I rolled up from the 1d4chan Sisters of Battle Creation Chart:

Minor Order

Descended from the Order of the Bloody Rose

A Standing Force (to guard a way-shrine?  And take confessions?)

Pride in the Colours (won't submit to other authorities)

Suffer Not the Works of Heretics! (A keen and watchful eye on the locals, and monitor all trade and warp traffic closely, and quietly.  If I went with some kind of Librarian sisterhood, it would mesh well with my Dark Angels Succesor Chapter, who I've now named The Stormcrows)

Primary Saint : A Seraphim Commander - kinda goes with the Celestine presence on the list, and maybe I can convert something fun up, on this.  I note with some interest that there is a single Sister head on the Immolator sprue, and I'm sure I could cook something up with the bodies of the grey knights, and I have the BA Assault Squad sort of sitting there in the bag...

Deeds of Legend : The Seraphim Saint attacked an Eldar Craftworld.  Maybe these can be bitter enemies of a Dark Eldar cabal, or something.  That's pretty neat.  I don't know anything about the DA whatsoever.  Guarding a Shrine to the Saint, which sits upon a long-buried DA warp-gate that could be opened if the local populous gets too frisky, and reads too many heathen texts

Homeworld : Medieval, Industrial (Vandross Betelgeuse VII, makers of Lasguns and Shoelaces, not quite a Hive World, but not very well maintained and plagued by pollution and mutations)

No involvement in local politics, except the occasional assassination of too-curious tourists or meddlers in the Black Arts (they are leery of Exterminatus, and work closely with Inquisitor Van Helthrack but none other, since he already knows of the Warp Gate below the planet's surface, and his lineage is charged with searching out the other side of it). They may occasionally work to destroy and torture Dark Eldar raiding parties and keep these battles from the knowledge of the general populace.

Slight Variation in the standard order, in that the Battle Sisters are relatively few in number; the mass of the convent is archivists, researchers, librarians, torturers, and geneticists.

Well versed in close and ranged combat, orbital insertion (for the occasional Hulk that wanders through the nearby space, and to raid DA raiders pre-emptively), and terror of the local populace.

Bestial Companion:  Given the whole thing so far, I'm going to go with Bats.  Bat Servitors, Bat-winged Jump Packs on the Seraphim Superiors, Maybe I will modify the scheme of the sisters I've already painted (I don't know if this will fly, but we'll see).  Mobs of Doombats...  Hmm.  This could be fun.

Method of Worship:  Purity of (Wo)Man - "Protect the Hallowed human form from rusted iron".  No bionics, if possible (should be easy).  The penitent engine could be a big batty death machine.  The Woe Grinder or something

Size: Nominal - taking choice recruits from the potential Vestal candidates in the cities, wastes, and sumps

Friendly with: Imperial Guard, from a nearby world (from the local world, Vandross Betelgeuse VII)

Enemies: I already picked Dark Eldar, so no need to roll here

Name

Ehh

eh

The Most Holy Order of the Angels of Gloom: imagine if you will a thousand Batgirls with plasma and boltcannons, and then maybe I can convert some interesting figures, in addition to the ones I have already (only 2 squads and Celestine, as well as a Seraphim Squad and maybe some on the way)

My close associate and sometime co-conspirator +Wayne Snider turned me on to the wealth of weird models of Inq28

that is all

It's like a cross between Necromunda and Inquisitor and you don't need to make those models like gigantic and gangly and there's a jillion bits in the world to make things aright

Hmmmmm

Also, this thing to make Orders of Sisters

He's here. The foam in there is experiencing catastrophic failure, so that's cool.  Blister pack says 1997.

I love the story of Yarrick

I'm going to invest in the AM Codex, I suppose. And like I said I want some Ogryn to complement my Ratlings

darn it, I'm a farb

Essentially, all the huggermuggers what run around my personal project and hug and mug 0-levels that wander around in there.

Yours for the taking - pretty sure this will be the version that makes it into the hard-copy POD version that ought to be out on RPGNow and Lulu by the end of the month.



Hmm.  Lulu.  I don't have an electronic version on Lulu, yet.

Hmm.

Anyways, enjoy!

The modest train of an Alfgrimnean Knight Errant arrives near the tourney grounds.  It is late, and the air is misty, offering no solace.  Boots are changed and dried near the fire.  Dogs are beaten.  The soup pot swings out over the fire, and a rich broth of salamander bones and kappa heads is started, with local mushrooms (not as stout as the cook is used to but one must not complain, for St. Roch listens for complaints).  The baggage cart is loaded with heavily spiced foods and gifts for the tournament organizers, pewter flagons and ornate China-ware flasks of rare poisonous perfumes.

Maledoric's Heraldry

 "We journeyed through Thrend, observing the Keep of the dead wizard Halthrag.  My master sent me to make contact with a lawyer in Marbourg, nearby, in the matter of a patent upon a clockwork pleasure doll.  I find the place intolerably boring, and devoid of the picturesque charm of similar places in, say, Averoigne.  The River Nymphs there are as fetching as I'd heard but they were leery of our advances and we could not coax them with jewels or perfumes.  And I spotted the spoor of a Manticore; an adult I would wager it.

(this was supposed to go in The LasRifle and Crowquill, my wargaming blog, but it didn't work out that way, so here you go:)

Been playing with the Beer and Bolters guys. Rekindled my excitement for winter projects, and before I go buying anything new I need to settle for finishing the shiznit I have on my plate already

I played Rogues Trader long ago, had a 2K vanilla marines army in 2nd edition but was more a Necromunda guy.  My IG and Sisters and DA are all geared in 5th. So I never played 3,4, or 6

Fie I say on the Burning Brand of Scartholax

I got my sweet sweet little nubbins on the Lone Wolf Kickstarter rules. Checking those out now, Kai Initiate...

Prepping my 40K army for tomorrow with the Frederick Guys at "The Fang" - they are by far the funnest, beer drinkingest Sunday morning folks you'd ever hope to meet. I probably ought to finish painting, base-ing and do all that good jazz for them but anyways. Emperor Forgive me, But I grow weary of the purity seals and gleaming metal and square-jaws. I've said before that I'm going to switch over to collecting and painting a Genestealer Cult, and I will, maybe next spring a couple of pieces at a time.  the winds of money blow against me at this time...

The hard copy version of the Hounds of Halthrag Keep is pretty done - just need to GREP out a bunch of instances of text (they appear in the digital version) and update the digital files with the script I make, and submit the new version with in-line art onto RPGNow and Lulu. The question is, do I make the icons myself???! - there are only about 6 or 7 of them - or go with something that's out there already...

Also, I keep hearing snippets of the Halthrag Keep. I gave my working copy to the sister-in-law, who passed it on to the RPG club at her high school, and within a few moments it disappeared into the crowd and has not been seen again. Maybe those kids - and I know where they are mind you ;) - can get free digital comps if they like it. The thought of teen gamers finding all the little nooks and crannies of my unfinished work sort of makes me gleefully gleeful. As an exercise in learning the ins-and-outs, HHSOLO1 is still a work in progress. The good thing is, it will only take a couple more sales to become "profitable" but I already profited by 1) making it and 2) hearing some of the fun stories that guys have told me about playing it.

If you have absconded with my thing, young RPG burglar (not really, it was meant to disappear in exactly this way), then notify the members of your guild, and have your Guildmaster (One Ms. Pierogie?) send me your contact emails and earn yourself a stack of digital copies to use as you please.  Or, I guess, you could take a Century and photocopy all the bits you have and then spread 'em around, but I mean.  Do what you will, young lads and lasses.  I'm curious to know how you list.  Also, my teeth are like swords, my teeth are like ten-fold shields, uh, I dunno cumberbatch does it better than

OK - gotta sleep

In Space, no one can hear you scream, as they say.  In Space Dungeon, everyone can hear you scream, including your closest associates and pals who will gladly remove your stuff from your corpse once it's been confirmed that it won't stand up and bite them.


You can find the original thread for it HERE

The trade goods are HERE but note that I haven't got these all formatted into a pretty PDF like we all like.  Maybe next week, suckas!

IInsectoid bipeds, 2 legs, odd numbers of weak and flailing arms.  Compound eyes not suited for Aereth surface levels of light.  They are demon-worshippers, and communicate via pheromones, hand gestures, vocally, and use low-level empathic projection.  Their communication patterns are very complex and so some extra-dimensional beings find the nuances enjoyable in this 3D meat-space.

Millennia ago the Silgurians boasted proud warriors 2m tall and firm of frame, but ~2/3 of the way through the development of the race they discovered trafficking with other-reality beings  They were perceived the Galaxy over as worshipers of demons/chaos/devils and not fit for trade or diplomacy, and they asked no quarter and gave none in unceasing squabbles with nearby races.  Using vile sorcery and anti-gravitic Shoggoth Drives and nega-energy cells, they marched over their quadrant spreading like a plague of flies for hundreds of Aereth years.  Happily, their technology was prone to cataclysmic failure (possibly due to demonic influence) and they sunk into degeneracy 2000 years ago.  They stand at less than half of their former stature, now, and much of their sorcery and technology is lost even to them.  In an effort to bolster their meager gene-pool, a last act by their bio-mancers was to develop a retro-viral method of reproduction in which victims of their bites slowly transmogrify - at least partially - into Silgurians themselves.  While this opens new vistas of perception and abilities, including a chitinous shell and a variably-active 6th chakra, the victim loses much in the way of their former personality.